Drunken Dishing

[Kaden Farr]

There was a small itch Kaden needed to scratch, he had not had a good stiff drink of tihaar since coming back from the Netherworld. Part of it was he no longer had a drinking partner. The last time he had done so much drinking a brawl broke out, it had been with riduur, Yasha Cadera. She had spurned his love, broken him despite all he had done for her, and chosen others over him and even what it meant to be Mandalorian. Kaden could not think about getting drunk without thinking about her, but he had to push past that.

There was a cantina in Goblah city which had boasted good tihaar. Kaden wanted to see if it was true, he hoped it was true. It was a dimly lit place filled with the smell of smoke and pale alcohol. Light colored eyes adjusted to the dark, and as they did, settled onto a face Kaden recognized. [member="Alkor Centaris"] was not a man Kaden knew well, but he had known his story well enough to know they shared something in common. Both of them had been mistreated by the Mandalorian Empire.

The young Farr walked up to the man and sat down. He did not what was in the man's glass, but Kaden didn't care.

Looking up to the barkeep he signaled two fingers. "Tihaar, bottles not glasses..."

Kaden turned to the man and grinned.

"They say no one can drink you under the table... care to defend that statement?"

 

[Alkor Centaris]

It was a rare day when Alkor got called on by a Mandalorian. At least, it had been that way since he put down the title of Warmaster and left the Empire. So, when someone asked to meet with him, he was glad it was on the downlow. Golbah was a large city, and the Sprawl was the roughest part. There were cantinas, but they were the shady type that Knights Obsidian never really showed up to. Hell, CDF itself probably only dispatched this far out when there was a call. It was the perfect way to keep unwanted eyes and ears off of them.

He took a sip of the Corellian whiskey, savored it, then offed the whole glass. Tihaar sloshed out of both bottles placed in front of the men, and Alkor turned in his seat at last to regard [member="Kaden Farr"] as he sat across from him. "To your health," he smirked as he took the tihaar bottle by the neck between two fingers. He took a long draw and then let the drink hang in front of him.

The deep, spiced flavor crawled down his throat. He spent most of his time forgetting the time he'd spent becoming family to the Mandalorian people, trying to push away the harshness of leaving them behind, and even killing those who became his brothers in battle. It had been a difficult decision to leave, but seeing what he had, the aggression-masked-as-humanitarianism and the villainy of Clan Australis paired with the choice of Mand'alor to do nothing about it had made the decision for him.

"So long as you're not worried about salvaging your liver, I can oblige you."

 

[Kaden Farr]

"My liver? I have been to hell twice now. I am not worried about salvaging anything," Kaden commented as he took a long drought of the alcohol in his hand.

Kaden was a little curious why Centaris was with the Confederacy now. He had been there when Kaden came back from death, and he had been there during the Kuat debacle. Something was at work in his life as well as other rumblings about what took place that day. It was not often a former Warmaster sided with a faction the Empire was not neutral with. From what he knew, the former Warmaster had also been present on Eshan as Kaden had been. All of these things were both interesting and disturbing. Had things fallen so much that even their best were abandoning his former riduur now?

"It has been a while. Last time we saw each other outside of Kuat I think was the day Metus showed up to greet his family. You and I were both there to stop some from overreacting I believe?

Such had been the plight of the Mandalorian Empire. First force users were not welcome, then they were. Certain force users, or certain Mando'ade, were never welcome. Those actions had been made clear to Kaden that day. Of course he did not have the chance to speak with Yasah about what was happening. Every time they had since their postponed honeymoon, the two fought. Yasha had never wanted to embrace the resol'nare. She had wanted to remain the person Zambrano had wanted her to be. It was killing their people from within, and that fight ultimately led to Kaden's death.

"So why did you leave?"

Kaden's question was blunt as he took another drink.

[member="Alkor Centaris"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

"I took the position of Warmaster from Australis under the presumption that it meant checking his ability to cause damage." Alkor explained as he drank, "I believed that in stripping him of rank, she intended to repudiate his actions and call him to be held accountable. She had agreed to small things- a face value agreement to disassociate from the Sith. She took this to mean only in an official capacity, and thus continued their friendship in secret."

He knew this because she had come to him when she realized how dangerous Carnifex was to make an enemy of. She sought to placate an entire people, and in the same breath rejected that all of those people wanted different things. He knew from the actions that followed she was only playing a part.

"One after another, battles and incursions I advised against took center stage, until I could not overlook the egregious attack on Eshan. Not only was Australis allowed to burn a massive number of civilians without fear of rebuke-" he exhaled, slowly, and shook his head.

"They were married," he said quietly, placing his drink on the table. "She did it in secret and kept the whole thing quiet. The child on that throne in Sundari does as she pleases without regard for traditions. Now I hear she barks quite willingly for Kaine Zambrano."

After a moment he left all that information to process, then added, "when I went back to Mandalore, it was under the impression Isley was the traitor to his people. I only learned later that you can only do so much for your family before their lack of appreciation poisons you."

[member="Kaden Farr"]

 

[Kaden Farr]

Kaden listened to the tale he and asked for. There was nothing about what he was hearing which surprised him. The things about Kaine Australia were widely know. Yasha’s disregard for the Resol’nare had been a contention during their brief marriage. His attention was set on the former Warmaster as he told his story. Kaden felt for him, he truly did. There were so many who had been betrayed by the woman who was raised to disregard and disdain what it meant to be Mando’ad. Her sheer lack of disrespect for the entire culture had divided them even more than the civil war had. They were so divided no one thought it worth fighting over anymore. She would eventually die, but when she did, hell would be a better option for those alive for the fight that would ensue for control.

He nodded.

“She always favored him because he told her what she wanted to hear all while trying to take the mantle from her. She let him do something to my daughter, and when I confronted her about her disregard for the traditions of our people she told me her heart was no longer inclined toward mine. Yasha is unfit to be called Mando’ad, and of course she is in Kaine Zambrano’s pocket. He is her grandfather after all.”

Was their relation known to others? Whether it was by blood or by other, Kaden had overheard their conversations. He understood the language they spoke. Kaden kids things the others did not, and he had carried those secrets with him to his death.

“We are rid of her for now at least. That is something to drink to.”

[member="Alkor Centaris"]